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Nov 05, 2008

Music Review: Jamie Jones Is on the "Rise"!

Jamie JonesJamie JonesGenesis Entertainment (2005)MySpace/JamieJones

There’s a dearth of soul music out there these days.

Now when I say “soul” music, I’m not talking about a style or a genre, even. I’m talking soul music—music that hits you deep, that lifts you up… music that when you’re listening to it, you feel better and feel connected.

There’s a dearth of soul music today.

Fortunately I discovered some good soul music recently. Remember the group All-4-One? No, seriously. All-4-One. (They were the ones who sang "I Swear", "I Can Love You Like That”, etc.) Kinda hokey stuff, to be honest. And for the most part, A4O got written off as a Boyz II Men knock-off. Then again, A4O sold like 15 million units, so they were doing something right.

If his debut's any indication, former lead-singer Jamie Jones was a big part of that something.

In 2005 Jamie Jones dropped a self-titled collection that’s some real straight-up soul-to-the-bone soul music; but I just heard it for the firs time, like 2 weeks ago, but I can’t get it out of my iPod to save my life. (Great thing about the web is that there’s no such thing as “new music” anymore— everything is either “music you’ve heard,” or “music you haven’t heard, yet.” And I kinda like that; don’t you?)

Anyway…

Jamie Jones just has a great sound. It’s just good uplifting soul music in the vein of classic D’Angelo and Stevie and Donnie. What makes this album work so well is that every song’s about something that regular people go thru—relationships, love, crummy jobs, doubt, daily struggle, etc. The soul comes from 3 places—his voice, the beats, and his underlying message.

My favorite is Get On Up, a bouncy hopeful groove about never giving up and being that’s optimistic without being corny. Higher Love is about a man struggling to find deeper love and connections with his woman, his kids and with the people around him. Rise is a slow-build anthem of overcoming and perseverance. I'm So Glad is an ode to a love sent from above that sounds so much more sincere and heartfelt than similar tunes of the past. So I is song about growing up and the steps you have to take to become a better person, sung in a funky falsetto that just makes being a grown man seem like the coolest thing to be.

Jamie Jones' sound comes courtesy of The Heavyweights, a production crew that's worked with everyone from Tupac to Peabo Bryson to Jim Brickman to Dream. Don't let the roster fool you, with 300 million plus sold, The Heavyweights know sound, and they did a great job accenting Jamie's inspiration flow.

Overall, if you want some soul music that's inspiring, enriching and feel-good and that you'll listen to on the regular, you gotta cop this Jamie Jones album. it's really good stuff.